Paph. Doctor Toot

[euplusia]

I'm not a slipper guy, I thought they need conditions different from epiphytic orchids. But in 2003 I won a seedling. The tag says: Paph. delenatii x topperi.
Paph. topperi is apparently synonym to Paph. kolopakingii. The cross Paph. kolopakingii x delenatii was registered in 1996 for R.J.Rands and named Paph. Doctor Toot.
The plant was not difficult to keep, but not really strong enough to flower. Last year I saw at the orchid show in Neu-Ulm big plants of Phragmipediums and Paphis. I went to the grower and asked him about his fertilizer. So I bought from him the "Urea free 20-10-20" orchid food of 'Grow more'. I hope it's not forbidden to give this reference. Since then the growth rate doubled. So here is the first blooming of my exception.

[WhiteRabbit]

Awesome!

Good to hear that fertilizer has worked well for you - it's what I've been using mostly the past year or so - and I've been pretty happy with it myself

[The Orchid Boy]

A very nice plant (with a funny name ). Urea free is definitely the way to go. I've recently switched over to K-lite (12-1-1 with extra ca and mg) from First Rays, hopefully I'll see good results. I used to use 30-10-10 Grow More (not urea free) and wasn't too impressed.

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by The Orchid Boy

A very nice plant (with a funny name ). Urea free is definitely the way to go. I've recently switched over to K-lite (12-1-1 with extra ca and mg) from First Rays, hopefully I'll see good results. I used to use 30-10-10 Grow More (not urea free) and wasn't too impressed.

The 20-10-20 grow more is urea free...
The 30-10-10 formula isn't.. why I wonder lol..

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[PlantTeeth]

Congrats! Very nice plant!

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[NYCorchidman]

With higher number of nitrogen, it could cause chemical burn to plants if nitrogen were all in the form of non urea, which does not need to be broken down in order to be available to plants immediately.
Just my opinion.

Anyways, I tried all sorts of fertilizers, but never really seen any good results. My plants all grow and flower fine, but I don't think I see the great effect of fertilizers. strange...or my expectation is too high.

Your paph looks nice by the way.
I've been wanting a nice pink flowered paph. like delrosi, but I heard delrosi is not very easy to grow (don't know how difficult) and that made me lose interest.

[bballr4567]

That is just beautiful! Love the pink of it!

[quiltergal]

Very nice! Kolopakingii is not easy to grow. Just be aware that it is a very large (as in ginormous) plant and may pass that trait on to it's offspring. Make room on your bench!

NYC, Delrosii is delanatii x roth, so could be very slow growing due to the roth parent. I had a similar one, Paph. Pink Sky (Lady Isabel X delenatii). It grew and grew and grew and never flowered. I finally got impatient and sold it to someone here on OB. I don't know if she ever got it to flower or not. I have since become more patient and have a couple of roth crosses. Paph. William Amber bloomed for the first time this year and Paph. Gloria Nagel (a division from Naoki here) is growing but has not bloomed yet. That is one I am really looking forward to seeing. Naoki's flower was gorgeous.

[karategirl73]

The color is so beautiful congrats on getting it to bloom!!

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Very nice! Kolopakingii is not easy to grow. Just be aware that it is a very large (as in ginormous) plant and may pass that trait on to it's offspring. Make room on your bench!

NYC, Delrosii is delanatii x roth, so could be very slow growing due to the roth parent. I had a similar one, Paph. Pink Sky (Lady Isabel X delenatii). It grew and grew and grew and never flowered. I finally got impatient and sold it to someone here on OB. I don't know if she ever got it to flower or not. I have since become more patient and have a couple of roth crosses. Paph. William Amber bloomed for the first time this year and Paph. Gloria Nagel (a division from Naoki here) is growing but has not bloomed yet. That is one I am really looking forward to seeing. Naoki's flower was gorgeous.

I read that delrosi takes about ten years to mature and bloom for the first time. So buying a blooming size one will help I guess. but other than it being slow grower, do you know why it is considered difficult?
Maybe it is not difficult as many are incorrectly rumored to be so? and being difficult or easy are relative terms any way.

I would love to have Delrosi flowers in my place!